PLANS to extend maternity rights were condemned by business leaders last night who said that they could “cripple” hundreds of thousands of companies.

Tony Blair will announce today that millions of parents with school-age children could soon have the same right to part-time work as families with infants. The “right to request” flexible work would also be extended to 1.8 million women who look after sick or disabled relatives.

Currently, only 3.7 million parents with children under six can request flexible work, which companies say they have just about managed to accommodate. If carers and parents of older children are included, that number would rise to more than nine million.

Theresa May, the Tories’ family spokeswoman, said: “Families are paying £5,000 a year extra in taxes and will be paying even more under Labour’s third-term tax rises. The Conservative Party is committed to providing choice and flexibility to families and will announce our childcare proposals ahead of the general election.”

Labour hopes that the proposals, to be set out in a consultation document by Patricia Hewitt, the Trade and Industry Secretary, will help to win over women voters who have grown disillusioned with Labour and Mr Blair in particular.

Along with a promise to extend paid maternity leave from six to nine months and allow fathers to take over part of that leave if they wish, the proposals will form a major part of Labour’s election manifesto.

Mr Blair will use a lengthy interview on Radio 4’s Women’s Hour this morning to highlight the proposals. But business leaders said the package of “work-life balance” measures would damage the entire economy. “The majority of British businesses are small firms who could be crippled by these moves to allow more time off,” David Frost, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said.

“While the majority of any salary costs may be covered by the Government’s statutory pay, recruitment costs, advertising costs, retraining costs and the strain on the company will not be. A key reason for the success of our economy over the last ten years has been flexibility, particularly in terms of the labour market. We need it to remain flexible, our firms cannot compete without it.”

The Confederation of British Industry said the plans would have to be moderated to be workable. “Business wants their employees to be able to work flexibly, but the bottom line is that these proposals have to be workable. If the right to request is extended to parents with children up to 17, that will cover millions more employees and it will be very difficult for small businesses in particular to accommodate all these requests for flexible work,” a spokeswoman said.

She suggested that a more realistic target was the smaller group of 2.6 million parents with children between six and 12, rather than the larger group of 4.5 million parents with children between six and 17, a compromise the Government may well choose to take.

In an attempt to placate businesses, Ms Hewitt will emphasise that it is carers, rather than parents with older children, who are the Government’s priority for flexible working rights.

She will also offer to see whether the Inland Revenue rather than companies should process maternity pay, relieving firms of a hefty administrative burden. Ms Hewitt will also suggest that mothers give their boss three months’ notice of their return date.

Ms Hewitt said yesterday that extending maternity pay, currently £102 a week, from six to nine months, effectively entitles mothers to an extra £1,400. “The aim is to get [statutory maternity pay] right up to the full 12 months by the end of the next Parliament,” she added.

Ms Hewitt noted that the Government had already doubled the length of statutory maternity pay from 13 weeks in 1997 to 26 weeks, while maternity leave has been extended from six months to a year.

Any changes will not come into effect until 2007, a promise that was made to business when maternity leave was last extended. Family policy is notoriously difficult territory for the Conservatives, with large sections of the party unconvinced that mothers with young children should work at all.

The Tories have said that they will match what Labour has done so far, extending maternity leave to six months, but are unsure whether they would go further.

They will offer mothers the choice of taking a short period off work on a higher rate of pay than the current £102 a week, and are discussing proposals to make it easier for grandparents to become registered childminders and therefore able to take advantage of childcare tax credits.

FOREIGN LEAVE

Australia one year parental leave, unpaid

France 16 weeks' paid maternity, 2 weeks' paid paternity

Germany 14 weeks' paid maternity, no statutory paternity

Ireland 26 weeks' maternity, 70 per cent paid up to 18 weeks, no statutory paternity

Italy 21 weeks' maternity, up to 80 per cent paid, paternity if mother is ill

Sweden no specific maternity, parental leave up to 460 days shared, up to 80 per cent paid

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